Marc Albrecht was Principal Conductor of NedPhO|NKO and the Dutch National Opera from 2011 till 2020. Albrecht is well known for his interpretations of the great late-Romantics – Wagner, Mahler and Richard Strauss – but has also done much to champion the work of lesser-known composers such as Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker. During his international career he has conducted the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Amsterdam Concertgebouworkest. In 2006, he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique of Strasbourg, a post he held until taking up his current role in Amsterdam.
Marc Albrecht has conducted numerous productions of the Dutch National Opera, including Die Frau ohne Schatten and Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, Enescu’s Œdipe, The Magic Flute by Mozart, Gurre-Lieder by Schoenberg, Wagner’s Lohengrin and Parsifal, and Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck. Albrecht is in great international demand as an opera conductor. He made a very successful debut at the 2003 Salzburg Festival, and in 2010 led the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in an impressive production of Alban Berg’s Lulu, which is available on DVD. He was invited to conduct Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at the Bayreuth Festival in four consecutive years, and in 2009 he conducted the same opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Marc Albrecht has enjoyed a particularly long and fruitful relationship with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he was guest conductor from 2001 until 2004. To this day, he regularly returns to Berlin to conduct the company’s new productions.
Marc Albrecht has received numerous accolades for his recorded work. In 2014, the Dutch National Opera production of Schreker’s Der Schatzgräber received an Edison Award, and Manfred Trojahn’s Orest was also among the nominees. In 2015, his 2-DVD set of Rimsky Korsakov’s epic The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia received the International Classical Music Award. In the same year, Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder was nominated for the International Opera Award for best new production. In 2016, Dutch National Opera under the musical direction of Marc Albrecht received the International Opera Award for ‘Opera House of the Year’. This year he was awarded best conductor in the world at the 2019 International Opera Awards.
In the concert hall, the many symphonic programmes that he has given with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra have proven beyond doubt that Marc Albrecht is one of the leading conductors of our times. Marc Albrecht and NedPhO have released many notable recordings, including Mahler’s fourth symphony and the orchestral Song Cycles (with Alice Coote) and the complete version of Richard Strauss’ Elektra.